The Demon Night
by Trickster2106
Summary: AU: Deathstroke never attacks the league of Assassin's headquarters, meaning Ra's Al Ghul doesn't die. Damian Wayne therefore stays a mystery to his father and continues to train as an Assassin with the League. Until one day the Batman learns of his existance...
1. Chapter 1

25th October 2003

Talia Al Ghul stared down at the baby in her arms, not understanding how new mothers could look down at such ugly, wrinkled creatures and describe them as beautiful. Sure, she could see how the scrunched up little button nose would one day lengthen into a handsome curve and how the dark brows would frame the mysterious Al Ghul eyes that he had inherited. Or at least she hoped he had, as the baby in her arms eyes were still squeezed tight shut. Her sons skin was still pink from the exposure to air after his release from the artificial womb she had been growing him in for some months, however if she looked closely she could see the olive undertones to his skin that portrayed his Arabic heritage. Maybe she didn't feel the same amount of connection to this baby as a normal mother would because she had not grown this child inside of her.

The baby shifted in its sleep, making a tiny sighing sound as it did so, and Talia felt a strange warmth in her belly. She pushed down the obscure feeling as she heard the muffled steps of a servant approaching, likely preceded by her father who's steps she could not make out due to his millennia of extensive training. The door to the womb chamber opened and Ra's Al Ghul, the Demon's head, entered on silent feet. He wore robes of a deep forest green which perfectly matched his glowing eyes. "What do we have here, my darling daughter," queried the Demon.

"It was time," answered Talia swiftly, not wanting to keep her father waiting.

"Oh?," was his only reply and as always when he spoke in that tone Talia felt as though she had somehow done him wrong. "Did you not think to ask me my opinion on the matter before taking it into your own hands?."

"I felt it necessary to bring the child out of the womb because he is around the age a natural child would have been birthed at." Talia stated.

"Oh, and I couldn't have been made aware of this development before the 'birth'," said her father in what would have been considered a sarcastic tone if this had been anyone but the Demon's head.

"I am his mother!" Talia exclaimed, losing control of herself momentarily. She felt a wave of maternal love wash over her as she tried to protect her baby boy from the evil her father could cause. Seconds later she again quashed her feelings towards the child, hoping her father had not seen the love in her eyes as she had glanced down at the baby in her arms.

"And I am your father," whispered Ra's Al Ghul in a tone that implied danger. "Give me the baby," he demanded staring straight into Talia's eyes. She had no choice but to obey.

"Hello my little Demon," said he to the babe, in an almost caring manner, except everyone present new that Ra's Al Ghul had ever felt or let himself feel love to any creature but himself. And then with a quick, silky movement Talia's father's hand snapped out and slapped her round the face. She wobbled a few steps backwards, clutching at her cheek where a bright red hand print could already be seen. Ra's Al Ghul turned swiftly, his robes swishing around his long legs, and stalked out the door without a backwards glance. Talia dropped to her knees on the floor before curling into a tight ball like she had when she was a small child and her father had hit her before letting out a sob for the first time since the Batman had left her.

Meanwhile Ra's Al Ghul marched down the halls of his secret base, completely forgetting about the child in his arms until he felt a sharp pain in his hand and looked down to see the baby with its sharp teeth, that shouldn't have grown yet, clamped onto his hand.

He glared down at the boy," Don't worry, I'll tame you my little Demon, my little … Damian."


	2. Chapter 2

13th March 2009

Damian scowled as he was once again thrown into the dirt by his mother, his eyes narrowing as he quickly scrambled to his feet. "The key to winning Damian," she said, "is not strength, but speed and at the moment that is your advantage, so use it." So, he did.

"Well done, boy," said Damian's Grandfather at dinner that night when he saw the discolouring of a forming bruise on Talia's face. Damian beamed before remembering to hide his emotions, however his grandfather saw the small misstep and his eyes sharpened.

"Damian," he said, in a deadly whisper, "go and retrieve my knives." Talia glanced from her father to her son not intervening but wanting to desperately. Damian, sensing the danger, even in his childish innocence that had not yet been broken, gulped and then scurried of on short legs to follow his Grandfather's orders.

Talia and Ra's Al Ghul sat in silence until the boy came back, stumbling slightly under the weight of the knife pack he was carrying. Once he had entered the room he reluctantly moved towards the Demon's Head, dragging his feet on the polished oak floor as he came.

"Ah, your back, at least you didn't take so long to get them this time," stated the Demon passive aggressively as he ordered his Grandchild to lie down on the Dining table.

Ra's Al Ghul extracted a long hunting dagger from the poach he had been given and ran a single finger down the blade drawing a drop of blood. He then pulled up his Grandson's shirt and positioned the knife on the boy's stomach. Then he smiled.

"If you make a sound, I'll rub salt into it," the Demon threatened glancing suggestively at the salt dispenser in the middle of the table. Then in slow, sweeping motions he carved the words, لا يجوز لك ان تفخر. Damian shifted as the cold blade met his skin, not feeling pain until a few seconds after the first cut and then it hit him in a throbbing wave. Ruby red blood pooled in the cuts before sliding down his side onto the table below, leaving scarlet trails in its wake. He bit his lip in an effort to hold in his pained shout.

Half way through the ordeal Damian made a tiny squeak of pain and the corners of Ra's Al Ghul's mouth twitched upwards. Once he was finished he motioned for the salt which his daughter, who had been sitting there silently the entire time, handed it to him. As Ra's Al Ghul shook the salt onto the bloody wound he leant down and whispered in the squirming boys ear, "You shall not be proud again."


	3. Chapter 3

19th August 2009

"Kill him," were the only words his mother spoke to him before striding out if the room and leaving him with a single guard and the man hanging from the ceiling by a single chain attached to the manacles around his wrists.

Damian stepped closer to the man, inspecting the bruises and cuts that covered his body. The prisoner was conscious but barely aware; his eyelids drooping closed and every breath rattle slowly through his lungs, showing the extensive damage to his ribcage.

The young Assassin looked down at the dagger in his hand and brought it up to the man's chest. With a lightning quick movement, he stabbed the man right between his clavicles before pulling the knife downwards cutting open the skin and muscle over the ribcage. The prisoner gave a jolt and a muffled whimper before again falling silent as he slipped in and out of consciousness.

Damian new his Mother and Grandfather were watching so he wanted to make this death as entertaining to them as possible so that they might not punish him that night.

Pulling out the dagger, the young boy placed it on a nearby table. He then preceded to stick his small, brown fingers into the cut he had just made. Sinking his fingers in until he felt cartilage, Damian then preceded to dig his fingers between the man's ribs and pull his damaged ribcage apart. A spurt of warm, wet blood hit his face and chest, some of it entering his mouth and leaving an irony tang in its wake.

As Damian's fingers squeezed into the flesh on the inside of the man's chest he felt the man's lungs begin to slow down even as his heart sped up in panic and he weakly started to thrash and moan through the pain. He was incapable of screaming because the state of his lungs and how he couldn't get enough air with the little boy's hands slowly pushing themselves further into his flesh.

With a final jerk, Damian's tiny hand found the man's beating heart and ripped it out of his chest with a sickening squelch that made the guard flinch and look away from the now dead prisoner.

The floor of the cell was covered in a pool of red liquid that was slowly clotting and it stuck to the bottom of Damian's shoes as he stepped away from the corpse and left the room, the man's dripping heart still clenched in his tiny fist.

Damian made his way through the long corridors of the fort, a trail of blood being left in his wake both from his shoes and the organ in his hand.

He entered his Grandfathers office and sunk to one knee before him, holding out the heart like and offering. His Grandfather smiled down at him, before taking the heart and passing it too an attendant." That shall be your dinner tonight, my pet," he said, "well deserved if I do say so myself."

"Thank you Grandfather," replied Damian, outwardly showing no signs of his inner disgust at the prospect of having to eat a man's heart.

Ra's Al Ghul waved his hand and a servant came over with a bowl of water and a pristine white cloth, he dipped his hands into the water and dried them and then motioned for Damian to do the same. When Damian was finished the now sullied cloth and slightly cloudy water were taken away on silent feet by the servant.

"Master Silone is waiting for you in the training rooms," Ra's Al Ghul said," So what are you still doing here?"

Master Silone was a middle-aged woman of Asian descent, her still dark hair was always pulled back in a tight bun. She had once told Damian that the key to having no grey hair was daily meditation to clean the spirit and calm the mind. Talia Al Ghul herself had trained the woman, and it showed in the straight posture and tight clothing that clearly accentuated Master Silone's muscular curves.

"Greetings Master," Damian said as he entered the chamber.

"Damian," she replied, her single word answer giving all the greeting she felt was necessary to a pupil with a lower status than her own. "Warm up." She ordered, and Damian began to run laps around the huge training room.

After a while she called Damian over to the training rings where she handed him a long Katana that was almost too heavy for the five-year-old.

The Asian woman struck quick and strong, going from a neutral stance to full on attack mode in the space of a second. Damian whipped up his sword just as fast and parried her blow before retaliating with one of his own. He first feinted to the left before sweeping his sword up at the last second and striking at the right-hand side of Master Silone's neck. She deflected easily and sent a strong blow at Damian's chest, the deflection of it from his sword knocking him backward a few steps.

Stumbling, he lifted his sword, small arms shaking under its weight, and struck again. The blow was again blocked, and the next, and the next. Until Master Silone through a lightning quick jab at his solar plexus that he couldn't block in time. The sword hit his protective body armer and knocked the boy over.

Master Silone held out a hand for him to take, and Damian, knowing pride was punishable, took it. His mentor pulled him to his feet before sending him off to his rooms. Training was over for the day.


End file.
